Starting to think about restarting the hobby ... SOAP

[Secios]

Hi all,

Since my whole life i love fish, i also used this forum to help me get my tank setup. Thank you guys for that !

But after about 2 months, the tank started acting strange, and some fish died. I tried several things but nothing worked. After all the fish died and the smell was unbearable i stopped everything. I cleaned everything with soap so it would stop smelling. This was during my exams of 1st year of high school so i really had no time to rescue this beautiful tank :'(.

After the rinsing i put the tank and all other parts on the loft and started learning again.

This was a really horrifying time.

Now: I really am interested in setting it up again. But i'm afraid of the soap.
I'm also afraid of the isolation of the loft, its glasswool. And after checking my tank out my eyes where really itching.

Can u guys help me? Can i still use this equipment or is it all lost?

Gear: Great deals on aquariums at zooplus: Juwel Aquarium Rekord 800

JBL Cristalprofi e700 - Aquatis Fresh water - JBL

Thank you for your time

Ian

 

[Scottyhorse]

I know to clean it you want to use water and vinegar, I believe it is 1 part vinegar to two parts water, but I could be wrong.

Do you have to keep the tank in the loft when it is set up? I am not familiar with glass wool, is that the insulation that is up there?

Hopefully I was a little help.

 

[Secios]

I know to clean it you want to use water and vinegar, I believe it is 1 part vinegar to two parts water, but I could be wrong.

Do you have to keep the tank in the loft when it is set up? I am not familiar with glass wool, is that the insulation that is up there?

Hopefully I was a little help.

Hi thank you for your reply.

No the tank used to be in bedroom. And yes the glass wool is the insulation that is in the loft.


Ian

 

[Scottyhorse]

Hi thank you for your reply.

No the tank used to be in bedroom. And yes the glass wool is the insulation that is in the loft.


Ian

Maybe you are allergic to the insulation in the loft, too. You might want to change that out of have someone look at it if you can.

But yeah, you don't want to clean the tank with soap. How big is your tank and what do you want to stock it with? I can help with that, I like to help stock peoples tanks

 

[Secios]

Maybe you are allergic to the insulation in the loft, too. You might want to change that out of have someone look at it if you can.

But yeah, you don't want to clean the tank with soap. How big is your tank and what do you want to stock it with? I can help with that, I like to help stock peoples tanks

Oh, its 110 l or 29 gallon, yea you can choose

I'm more concerned about the soap in all my equipment you tell me to use vinegar. But i don't know how that would work.

Are there some other people who have other ways of dealing with this?

Ian

 

[Scottyhorse]

Oh, its 110 l or 29 gallon, yea you can choose

I'm more concerned about the soap in all my equipment you tell me to use vinegar. But i don't know how that would work.

Are there some other people who have other ways of dealing with this?

Ian

Hmmm, for the other equipment, I would try soaking it a few times in warm water, the flushing it out with the water/vinegar mix.

I would suggest putting it in the dishwasher without soap if you have one, but that would also have soap residue in it, so that would not work.

Edit-

For a 29 you have quite a few options, and in my 25 I am doing a peaceful community set up with
2 German Blue Rams
10 Pygmy Spotted Rasboras
5 Hatchet Fish
Assorted shrimp and snails
lots of live plants
possibly 2 Upside down cats.

It depends on what you want in your tank, too. Since this is my first tank besides bettas and shrimp, I went with something that wouldn't be too difficult to take care of.
IMO I wouldn't do an aggressive tank because most aggressive fish get too large for a 29, but you could do a semi-aggressive tank with barbs, serpae tetras and the like.
You could even do a betta sorority, or one fancy goldfish. It just depends.
2 Angel fish with a school of ten cardinal tetras with a school of 6 corydoras would be cool also

 

[Secios]

Hmmm, for the other equipment, I would try soaking it a few times in warm water, the flushing it out with the water/vinegar mix.

I would suggest putting it in the dishwasher without soap if you have one, but that would also have soap residue in it, so that would not work.

Edit-

For a 29 you have quite a few options, and in my 25 I am doing a peaceful community set up with
2 German Blue Rams
10 Pygmy Spotted Rasboras
5 Hatchet Fish
Assorted shrimp and snails
lots of live plants
possibly 2 Upside down cats.

It depends on what you want in your tank, too. Since this is my first tank besides bettas and shrimp, I went with something that wouldn't be too difficult to take care of.
IMO I wouldn't do an aggressive tank because most aggressive fish get too large for a 29, but you could do a semi-aggressive tank with barbs, serpae tetras and the like.
You could even do a betta sorority, or one fancy goldfish. It just depends.
2 Angel fish with a school of ten cardinal tetras with a school of 6 corydoras would be cool also

Looking good man i'm going to think about it ! I'll let you know when i have the time to check the species.

Anyone else who wants to join in on the whole soap thing?

 

[Scottyhorse]

Looking good man i'm going to think about it ! I'll let you know when i have the time to check the species.

Anyone else who wants to join in on the whole soap thing?

Sorry I don't have anymore info about the soap thing, hopefully someone else can put in their input!

 

[Hholly]

Just so we're clear... Use white vinegar, not malt. . Good luck!

 

[Wepwawet]

Fill the tub with water, wash everything and see if you can see or smell soap drain and repeat till you can't. Then allow to air dry.

Now mix vin and water wash everything as if your trying to make it shine. Rinse very well 2-3 times allow to dry set up the tank use prime or equal declor let run for a day or two change all the water cycle like normal.

This is very much an error on the side of caution approach.

 

[Secios]

Thank you Wepwawet, yes i'm going to try that in a few weeks. Got it off the loft, its a bit dirty but not that bad.

About my external filter and tubing how do i clean that?, i let it run with water and vinegar to let it clean or?

Thank you all ! Very appreciated!

 

[Wepwawet]

Yep everything

 

[Secios]

Yep everything

Would it be good that after all the cleaning that i fill the aquarium again with water and vinegar and let it run for a couple of days. To really get everything out?

Thank you so much

Also i'm looking at only 1 type of fish in the tank , maybe only a single fish in it


Ian

Edit: The filter media i wash aswell, it will be all good?

 

[Wepwawet]

It won't hurt anything, not sure I would go that far unless there are places you can't get into to clean.

But if you do don't forget to let it air dry after for 1-2 days

 

[Secios]

Oke, the vinegar will also clean the filter media? No need to buy new media?

Ian

 

[ejaramillo01]

Oke, the vinegar will also clean the filter media? No need to buy new media?

Ian

I would say, wash everything with vinegar, then discard the filter media, and buy new one, it is not expensive, keep the same filter, just replace the media.
Keep rinsing several times until you feel comfortable that there s not more vinegar smell in the tank or accessories.
Then re start the tank with new media, I would suggest you to try the fish-less cycle.

 

[Secios]

Oke thank you guys for the great help, i appreciate it alot !

I can't actually do the whole washing right now because exams are starting soon, but i'll do it later and post some pictures of it

Thank you !

Ian

 

[Wepwawet]

Definitely scrub everything and buy new media. If you run the tank with water and vin mix run without any media cause youwill destroy it

 

[mfdrookie516]

I'd use bleach instead of vinegar. It'll do a much better job IMO. Just use a 1:10 bleach solution then soak everything in water with 5x the amount of dechlor that it advises for the volume of water you're using to soak it in.

 

[Secios]

I'd use bleach instead of vinegar. It'll do a much better job IMO. Just use a 1:10 bleach solution then soak everything in water with 5x the amount of dechlor that it advises for the volume of water you're using to soak it in.

So i wash it with a 1:10 bleach solution. Afterwords i soak it in a bleach/water mix with 5 x the amount of bleach that is advised.

What should i look for when buying bleach?

And why is it so much better then vinegar? Isn't vinegar safer?

Thank you !!!